Athlete targeted by angry vegans after sharing public outrage over Olympic village conditions
Topics: Olympics, Vegan, Food and Drink, Sport
Mia Williams
Featured Image Credit: Adam Pretty/Getty Images/Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
Topics: Olympics, Vegan, Food and Drink, Sport
A former Olympian has received backlash after suggesting that athletes do not eat a 'vegan diet', claiming '60% of the food' offered is meat and dairy free.
Retired Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has allegedly received a barrage of hate from vegans, after claiming that 'world class athletes' do not eat a vegan diet, which is widely offered in the Olympic village.
Paris' organisers have made it their mission for this Olympics to be one of the most sustainable of all time, which has meant prioritising greener options in every aspect of the event.
But Magnussen, who has previously won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016, has suggested that it could actually be having a detrimental effect on the athletes competing.
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In his News Corp column, he said: "They had a charter that said 60% of food in the village had to be vegan friendly and the day before the opening ceremony they ran out of meat and dairy options in the village because they hadn't anticipated so many athletes would be choosing the meat and dairy options over the vegan friendly ones.
"The caterer had to rejig their numbers and bring in more of those products because surprise, surprise - world class athletes don't have vegan diets."
And he's not exactly wrong, as organisers have since ordered more than 700kg of eggs, a tonne of extra meat to replace fake meat meals.
But it seems as though the swimming great is trying to smooth things over with the haters, after he spoke on the Matty and the Missile in Paris podcast.
He said: "To all the vegans out there, peace to you my brethren.
"I'm going to sleep easy tonight.
"You know why? I've left no carbon footprint today.
"I sweated my arse on (a) bus that had no air conditioning.
"There’s multiple factors that make village life far from ideal.
"It’s the cardboard beds, which can’t give you optimal sleep.
"It’s the no air conditioning, which is going to play a bigger factor as the week goes.
"It was 20 degrees and raining yesterday.
"It’s going to be mid 30s in the coming days.
"That’s going to play a factor and the Australian team having their own portable air conditioners will be a welcome relief."
And he's not the only athlete to note the negatives of the so-called 'anti-sex' cardboard beds, after competitors complained about having a bad nights sleep.
Water polo star Tilly Kearns said that her back was about to 'fall off' after her first night in the village.